See Things My Way (Oh, Lolly, Lollipop) [BtVS; Giles, Wesley, Cordelia]

[biz-munchee.livejournal.com]

Title: See Things My Way (Oh, Lolly, Lollipop)
Author: sangerin
Summary: There isn't any choice but for Wesley to see the situation Giles' way.
Rating: PG-13 at most (potentially disturbing content, adult/highschooler attraction)
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters: Giles, Wesley, Cordelia

Title, Author and URL of original story: Attention, by entrenous88



He has had nightmares like this.

Cordelia in a plaid miniskirt, barely brushing the tops of her thighs. A fine, tailored, white blouse, almost translucent. Those ludicrous American "penny loafers". The perfect picture of a nineteen fifties naughty pinup, if only she had a lollipop.

He wills himself not to think about lollipops.

To think instead of the idiotic way Wesley is staring at her, and the fact that Cordelia knows exactly the effect she's having on him. (To hope that Cordelia does not know the effect she's having on certain other males of the species.) To think of the best way to approach Wesley, to warn him off Cordelia without making the tension between them worse than it already is. Wesley will have noticed Giles' own interest, will accuse him of hypocrisy. The conversation – disagreement – argument – is already laid out. Predestined to go horribly wrong.

Predestined not to happen, when Cordelia flounces and preens too close to Wesley, and he jumps, his fingers catching at the saucer and flipping the china teacup to the ground where it shatters.

'Encore!' calls Xander, from the other side of the library, but Willow begins to whisper, and Xander's attention is distracted.

Giles' throat, tightened by worry, is loosened. 'I do hope none of that tea landed on our books.'

'It's not as though it's exactly a priceless collection,' snaps Wesley, but his face is red as he bends down to gather the piece of teacup. Cordelia crouches with him, brushing her fingers against his hands as she helps him, and his skin grows even more red.

'Wesley,' Giles says, trying to sound calm and polite, 'When you're finished there, may I have a word?'

'Of course, Mr Giles,' he says, after a moment's hesitation. That silky-smooth, cultured English voice, determined to prove that a gentleman of his background would never aspire to being a greengrocer or anything else so common. Calculated to overawe. Well, Giles has been in America long enough now to outgrow certain techniques of intimidation.

'I think you'd better go home,' Giles says to Wesley when he presents himself.

'Mr Giles,' begins Wesley, in what can only be described as a huff, 'I hardly think that's necessary!'

Giles tilts his head, looking over the top of the rim of his glasses. He rarely does so, but finds the technique useful on certain, recalcitrant students with long overdue books or unreasonably loud indoor voices. 'Indeed.'

'Miss Chase… I mean…' Wesley flounders. 'Perhaps it might be better if I absented myself temporarily,' he ends.

'After all,' says Giles, 'You are not an employee of this school. Questions could very easily be asked.'

Wesley draws in a breath. Squares his shoulders. 'Quite.'

* * *

When school is over, the Scoobies (insidiousness of teen-speak, even he calls Buffy's companions the "Scoobies" in his head) dismissed for the evening, and Buffy dismissive of his support for the night's patrol, he makes his way to Wesley's rooms. The Council have provided an upscale townhouse for his replacement: Giles feels he ought to be grateful they haven't seen to his own eviction following the Cruciamentum.

He knocks on the door, but Wesley takes his time in answering.

'Oh, it's you,' says Wesley, a glass of something – undoubtedly alcoholic - in his hand.

'Were you expecting someone else?' Giles asks.

'No. It isn't as though I know many people here,' says Wesley.

'I shouldn't have thought so. May I enter?'

Again, Wesley hesitates. Then he steps back. 'Be my guest.'

Wesley follows him back, into the lounge of the townhouse. They stand awkwardly, taking each other's measure.

Giles coughs. 'May I have a drink?'

Wesley sips at his own. 'Scotch?'

'Neat, thank you.'

Wesley fusses at the glasses and bottles for a moment, and then passes Giles his drink. 'To what do I owe the pleasure?' he asks, leaning on the final word.

'To your behaviour around Cordelia – Miss Chase – these past few days.'

'My behaviour? Not hers?'

'She is a high school student. You are an adult, and therefore the person more responsible for your actions.'

Wesley flops into a leather-covered chair. 'I'm surprised you have the gall to tell me this. You've been enjoying her displays as much as I have.'

'Which makes it all the more important that they stop. Wesley, do I really need to tell you how inappropriate this all is? She is a pupil!'

'As you pointed out this afternoon,' retorts Wesley, 'She is not my pupil. I am not employed by the School Board of Sunnydale.'

'And yet you hang around the library like… I honestly don't know how to describe it.'

'"Hang around"? Mr Giles, perhaps you have been in this country too long.'

Giles glares at Wesley. 'The current slayer – slayers, if we are to count Faith – are American. As have a number of her – their – predecessors. Has it ever crossed your mind that young women of non-British cultures might need to be handled somewhat differently to the Council's age-old traditions?' He pauses. 'I ask you this only because it seems obvious to me that the Council itself has no comprehension that there exists a world beyond the English Channel…'

Wesley sniffs. A curious sound and gesture: shoulders, jaw, cheeks and lips all shifting, subtly, to express disdain and disbelief. An intake and output of air, through nose and lips. 'We have our traditions.'

'Can you not see that those traditions have failed? They failed with Nikki Wood, they have failed with Buffy, and with Faith…'

'That is your opinion. And as far as the Council is concerned, your opinion is worth less than the paper it is written on. Especially as you have not yet mastered the art of electronic mail.'

Giles still hasn't sat down. Wesley is lounging in his leather chair.

'None of this is relevant at the moment,' says Giles. 'I'm not speaking now as anything to do with the Watcher's Council – '

'Convenient,' muttered Wesley, 'as you currently have no authority on those grounds.'

'But as the Librarian of Sunnydale High School. You must make it clear to Cordelia that her behaviour must cease. Immediately.'

Belligerent is the only way to describe Wesley's expression. 'What if I don't want to?'

'Then I shall ban you from school property and inform security accordingly.'

Wesley stops lounging and leans forward. 'Won't you miss the way Miss Chase dresses and behaves?'

It takes two swallows and a deep breath to answer the question, and Giles knows that Wesley sees his efforts. 'No.'

Wesley leans back. 'In any event,' he says, 'there's less than a month to graduation. You can show yourself out, by the way.'

* * *

Wesley can't actually stop Cordelia Chase from doing as she wishes. Giles is, however, confident that Wesley acceded to his wishes.

And as Wesley says, there is less than a month to graduation. And Cordelia (and Buffy, and Willow, and Xander, and Oz) know that just as well as Giles does.

Comments

[marenfic.livejournal.com]

Great job fleshing out a drabble.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It seemed a bit of a cheat for remix, but ... it's what I chose in the end.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Oh, how cool! I was very curious to learn what fic my remixer chose. I'm excited that you chose a drabble to remix, since it's always interesting to think what else could have happened in such a condensed story. And I thought you provided a detailed and textured version of that scenario that let you play with some of the provocative issues of Giles and Wesley's interactions in s3.

Interesting to see you tease out some possible class issues between Giles and Wesley, or at least issues in their impulses towards their place in society (since Giles notes Wesley would never have wanted to be a grocer). I like that even though Wes is still buffoonish, in Giles's view of him we can see traces of Giles's discomfort with the Council in general, their elitism and entitlement.

I also liked all the small details that tie this into canon at large, the references to the Cruciamentum and Nikki Wood. And hey, I always wondered why no one in the high school admin staff raised even a one-line question about Wesley's presence on their campus! So I was interested to see you bring that up as a reference to the context in which all this is happening, and as a form of ammunition that Giles has against Wesley.

I think your decision to place this kind of complicated and uneasy attraction to Cordelia within the framework of the Council's extreme weirdness regarding the young women they mentor and develop as killers worked well -- it raises some really intriguing issues.

I enjoyed reading this very much. Thank you for remixing this fic!

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked it. I was worried, because I'd done my (annoying usual) Remix thing of being absolutely certain of which fic I was going to remix... until I sat down to write. (I'd initially chosen "Reckoning", but then found it just too wonderfully tightly written to find a way to remix it. So I took the easier option and went for a drabble.)

And your icon is fabulous!

[seldomifever.livejournal.com]

'After all,' says Giles, 'You are not an employee of this school. Questions could very easily be asked.'

Finally, somebody mentions this! How could they have justified Wesley always hanging around.

I really enjoyed this fic. Well done!

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of hand-waving going on in that show. It's fun to show it up sometimes.

I'm glad you liked my remix.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhhhh, wonderful character piece about the tension between Wesley and Giles. Yet another clash, only this time over Cordelia's flirtation.

I love Giles asserting his authority on the basis of the authority he does have, even as he can understand where Wes is coming from. I love the hints tucked in here of how Wes will break apart with both his need to follow authority while at the same time trying to be dismissive of it.

Well done.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[tornyourdress.livejournal.com]

Oh. I like this a lot. The way you've portrayed Wesley especially - that mix of flustered and smug. And Giles - oh. Yes. So perfect.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Eee, thank you!

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

As Xander says: "Can you spell jail-bait, Wesley?" Very disturbing. I don't like Giles like this - I like father-figure Giles! But very well-written and a great expansion of the drabble. (But, father-figure, father-figure!)

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

But not a father-figure to Wesley, surely? ~g~ If I'd had more time and creativity, I'd have like to slide a little Giles/Wesley suggestion or two into it. But I was severely lacking in both time and creativity.

The way I think I hoped it would read was that this was Giles being a father figure of sorts... making it all the more disturbing (Attempt at a subtle Lolita reference, for example. Of course, it's probably as subtle as a sledgehammer, but hey. My writing ability went walkabout and hasn't come back yet.)

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

But not a father-figure to Wesley, surely?

Well, actually, I kinda read them as brothers. And Giles should definitely not be appreciating Cordelia.

Have you read Lolita? I found it a hard read because the writing is so amazing that I started to empathise with Humbert, and then kept catching myself, because he was a paedophile, no matter how movingly he was written.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Ah so I wasn't just imagining the Giles/Wesley hints here :)

I read the original and was surprised you had chosen to remix this since I think of you as being more squicked than squeed by cross-gen (unlike say me and Ari), but you do a good job of showing the tensions both men would face with their desires, their ethics, as well as their professional positions.